Boeing has secured a contract worth more than $20 billion to develop the U.S. Navy’s next-generation carrier-based fighter.
The Navy contract covers full-scale development of the sixth-generation F/A-XX Strike Fighter, including testing units for ground, airworthiness, systems and weapons.
The aircraft is expected to supplement and eventually replace the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers in the 2030s, the Department of War said in its Tuesday announcement. It will operate alongside the F-35C.
Sixth-generation fighter technology would make aircraft harder to detect, with improved stealth capabilities, while being equipped with artificial intelligence-assisted sensors, hypersonic weapons, and directed-energy weapons such as lasers. …